Abe Duque is one of techno's most inspiring and often unsung heroes, and this is his new album DON'T BE SO MEAN.

It's an album with artwork, a name, and a lead single Tonight is Your Answer that are a sly comment on American foreign policy. It's a reflection of Abe's chequered life.

He's been both a US Marine and a resident DJ at New York's notorious club-kid 90s-club Limelight. He knows how to operate the machine gun on the cover of the album, but wishes there was less call for gunfire. He's been arrested this year for potential terrorism - but for being found at an airport with a knife issued to him by the US government itself.

And since his first days in music, he's been up, from Limelight to Tresor Berlin to releasing on key techno labels like Tresor, Disko-B under aliases like Rancho Relaxo Allstars and Kirlian. And he's been down, so broke that the first releases on his own label, Abe Duque Records, were released with no labels, no promo - just music on one side and a message from Abe scratched by hand into the vinyl on the back.

He put the albums out without telling a soul, putting his faith in the ability of great techno to reach great people. And since the releases included now-pivotal anthems like â€œWhat happened?â€ cowritten with Blake Baxter; his own â€œChampagne Days, Cocaine Nightsâ€, and eventually his 2005 album, So Underground It Hurts, the idea worked.

Abe had blown up and he was up again, suddenly being asked to remix pivotal dance figures like the Chemical Brothers, Miss Kittin, DJ Hell, even the Pet Shop Boys and Princess Superstar...

Now we have his third album, Don't Be So Mean. It's the result of two years of road-testing, with Abe taking his live show from Australia to Japan, the US to Berlin, Barcelona to South America, Holland to Eastern Europe, alongside releasing on the already mentioned Tresor and Disko-B, as well as Warner Bros, International DJ Gigolos, Sahko, Tension, Abuse, Mille Plateaux, Sonic Groove, Rapture as Abe Duque and also alter egos Kirlian, Super Secret Symphony, Facil and the techno supergroup jam, the Rancho Relaxo All-stars....

Don't be so mean is out on Process Recordings. As part of the release, Abe is also offering two people an afternoon masterclass each in the studio with him - one in London, one in Berlin. Check abeduque.net for details...

Credits

All tracks written and performed by Abe Duque except #3, written by and vocals by Abe Duque and Virginia Nacimento; #4 written Abe Duque and Blake Baxter, vocals Blake Baxter; #5 written by Abe Duque and Gennaro Lefosse; #10 theme written by Claude Debussy, lyrics by Henry David Thoreau, adapted for the dance floor by Abe Duque, vocals by Tijana T; #11 Written by: Abe Duque & Blake Baxter, Vocals by Blake Baxter.